Handling, Distributing, and Sale of Fruit 237 



large association or federation of associations can select 

 brokerage agents to represent it in the principal markets, 

 it can place salaried agents in these markets to sell the 

 fruit to the wholesale trade, and it can put the fruit in 

 storage from which it can be sold on order, consignment, 

 or at auction. Through orders obtained by the agents in 

 the distant markets, the association or the members of a 

 federation can sell carloads of established brands for cash 

 F.O.B. at the point of production or on delivery, or it 

 can adopt any other method which produces a more satis- 

 factory result. 



Perishable Fruit. As a general rule an association 

 which handles perishable fruit, like the small fruits, 

 peaches, plums, and other summer fruits, will do best to 

 sell at the point of production under any of the methods 

 previously described, unless the association is large enough 

 to develop a comprehensive marketing system and can 

 consign the cars to its own agents to be sold at private 

 sale or at auction on arrival at destination. The small 

 association which handles perishable fruit must sell at the 

 shipping point, consign to a commission merchant, or 

 sell through a brokerage agent in the market. The per- 

 ishable fruits must be sold quickly, and, as a general rule, 

 the average producer will fare best when he depends upon 

 the buyers who assemble at the shipping points to sell and 

 bring his product into quick consumption. On the other 

 hand, a locality that produces a small quantity of fruit 

 will not attract buyers, and the association then has to 

 consign to commission merchants, or develop other meth- 

 ods of sale. 



The system of selling at the point of production becomes 



